


When You Bloom You'll Steal The Sky

by EldritchTribble, Lion_owl



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: A-Z, AZ drabble/ficlet challenge, F/F, Ficlets, Kiradax month - april 2017, more character tags to be added probably, trekfemslash
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-18
Updated: 2017-04-30
Packaged: 2018-10-20 16:16:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10666290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EldritchTribble/pseuds/EldritchTribble, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lion_owl/pseuds/Lion_owl
Summary: stick a pin in a dictionary 26 times and write a story for each word;the Kira Nerys/Jadzia Dax edition for trekfemslash's kiradax month 2017title fromthis beautiful song





	1. A B C D

**** **Anguish**

“What’s wrong?” Jadzia asked.

“I’m fine,” Nerys slammed the PADD she was holding down on the table. “Nothing’s wrong.”

“Nothing except the cracked corner of that PADD,” Jadzia observed. “Don’t need to be a Betazoid to sense the anguish you’re feeling.”

“Amral didn’t make it,”

“Your brother’s wife?” Jadzia knew the name, but Nerys didn’t mention it very often.

“She was in a shuttle crash, there was nothing they could do.”

“I’m sorry,” Jadzia took Nerys’ hand. “Is there anything I can do?”

“Not really,” Nerys said quietly. “But thanks.”

Just then, the door to Nerys’ quarters chimed.

“Come in,” Nerys called sullenly, habitually, though clearly not out of desire as Sisko stepped into the room.

“Major, I just wanted to pass on my sincerest condolences,” the captain said with a sad smile.

Nerys’ slouched body sharpened, her stare flickering between her friend and her wife. _How did he know? Jadzia, did you tell him? But you couldn’t have, you only just found out yourself, and you wouldn’t_

“Amral’s grandmother just contacted me and asked me to perform the burial rites.” Sisko explained. And Kira slumped again. “I’m sorry, I’ll leave you to mourn in peace.”

“I’ll go too,” Jadzia turned to leave, but Nerys’ fingers clamped around her wrist.

“Please stay.”

* * *

 

**Band**

The lounge was almost deserted when Jadzia got there, and the band were packing up. Nerys was sitting at a table talking quietly to Vic.

“Hey there Dax!” Vic greeted her, waving her over to the table. “I was just saying to Kira here you should form your own band, play some tunes out on the promenade from time to time.”

“That’s a _good_ idea!” Jadzia said as she sat down beside her friends.

“And as I explained, we don’t have the time for that kind of thing,” Nerys disagreed.

“We’ll make time, and it’ll be good for us, give the crew something to do together besides worry about the Dominion.”

“I’d rather just stick with Sisko’s dinner parties.”

“You don’t have to join in, but I think it’s a good idea and I’m going to suggest it to Sisko anyway.”

“You do that,” Nerys said, but she was smiling.

* * *

 

**Concern**

“Don’t you think that all of this is just…a bit sudden?” asked Kira pointedly through the viewscreen. Forgotten in the urgency of the moment, a raktajino waited for her in a nearby replicator.

Dax gave her an indulgent smile, much as one would give a child as yet unacquainted with the ways of the universe. “I know how it must look to you, but after eight lifetimes I’ve never been so sure of anything. Deral’s the one for me.”

“Don’t give me that, Jadzia. Have you really taken the time to consider all you’d be leaving behind on the station? Besides shirking your duties as science officer, which is well beneath your level of professionalism, you’re really going to leave for sixty years and just _assume_ Benjamin’ll still be around after that? How about Julian? Have you given any thought to how he’ll take this development?”

“Nerys…”

“Or what about this?” added Kira, her voice breaking despite her best efforts to remain calm. “What will I do when the dimensional shift takes effect and there’s nobody I can discuss my day with? Why, just yesterday Quark got up to the most _ridiculous_ scheme; you wouldn’t believe what Odo and I had to –“

“Nerys.” Through the grain of the monitor, Dax’s expression softened. “I’ll miss you.”

Kira swallowed hard, knowing full well that nothing she could add at this point would convince Dax to stay.

* * *

 

**Desk**

For once, blaming Curzon did not feel like a recourse to desperate measures on her part.

The desk had been his, after all - she could recall the proceedings of the ceremony as though they had occurred yesterday. Chancellor Azetbur had had it specially made out of burled wood from the Ketha province in a traditional Trill style, to commemorate his role in the signing of the Khitomer accords.

Not that Curzon had done much in the way of actual ambassadorial work on that desk. Jadzia blushed at the influx of memory.

In light of the desk’s somewhat salacious history and her acute familiarity thereof, she wished that Major Kira would stop leaning suggestively over it whenever she visited. It almost seemed like a deliberate attempt on the Major’s part to fluster her, but how could she have known?

Unless, of course, she had gleaned something from the only other soul ever to guess at its checkered past.

Jadzia tore her gaze away and marched resolutely off to Benjamin’s office. He would never hear the end of this as long as either of them lived.


	2. E F G H

**Enable**

“This is ridiculous!” Quark protested from behind the force field, trying and failing to match Kira’s angry glare.

“You’re the one in a holding cell.”

“Yes, and it’s unfair treatment, I tell you! When Sisko hears about this, his community leader being arrested – ”

“Sisko knows, and he told Odo to keep you in here for a week.” Kira said, not hiding how smug she felt. She was still incredibly upset about what had happened though.

“Keiko, you’re a reasonable person,” Quark tried. “Can’t you talk some sense into them?”

“You destroyed two years worth of my work, Quark,” Keiko hissed. “Normally I’m a patient person.” She left the end of the sentence hanging over the begging businessman and stalked out of security.

“Is that what this is about?” Quark called after her. “That wasn’t me, it was Tavelle!” he pointed at the Benzite lying asleep on the bench in another cell.

“He may have been the one who brought the Fdrelian Rsog plants onto the station which carried the virus that killed everything the botany lab, but you were the one who smuggled his cargo on just for a few Locaryn crystals to line your pockets. You enabled it Quark, and I’m especially pissed off because you know what Keiko was helping me grow?”

“No,” Quark said, lowering his gaze and twiddling his thumbs; an appearance of guilt, but Kira believed it was just a ruse.

“Acoarean Yjhelma, a beautiful flower that grew on the Trill homeworld a century ago and has since been almost completely wiped out. There are only about ten specimens left in the whole galaxy and it took me months to track them down. It was _supposed_ to be an anniversary gift for Jadzia, and now it’s just a pot of mush.”

“if you let me out of here I’ll find you a new packet of yjelma seeds,” Quark appealled, but Kira didn’t feel like responding to him, simply smiled coldly and walked out.

* * *

 

**Forage**

All things considered, Kira and Dax really could have done without the broken tricorder.

Their distress call had been transmitted and received, with a very harried Sisko promising to send the _Rio Grande_ after them once the Dominion threat aboard the station had been neutralized. Yet it would take the runabout at least a few days to reach their location under the best of circumstances.

 _What the hell_ , reasoned Nerys. _When it comes to combat rations, better the devil you don’t already know like the back of your hand._

Being careful not to wake Jadzia, she disengaged from their sleeping bag and crept silently from the makeshift camp. Before long, she came across a berry bush, dawn’s dew still glistening invitingly on its leaves and fruit. Gathering a generous bunch, she returned to camp – but not before popping a berry into her mouth, just to make sure they were indeed edible.

She would soon blearily reflect, through overwhelming waves of spice, that half of that berry could go a long way toward seasoning an entire household’s worth of hasperat.

At least the combat rations could now be made more palatable.

* * *

 

**Guest**

“What’s going on, Jadzia? You seem…subdued.”

Technically, anything beneath instigating a brawl counted as ‘subdued’ in the Klingon restaurant, but under normal circumstances Dax would have been trading barbs with the best of them.

“Benjamin’s just asked me to accompany him to Trill,” confessed Dax in between pensive mouthfuls of gagh. She did not meet Kira’s eyes.

“And that’s a bad thing?” asked Kira incredulously. “I thought you’d jump at the chance to return to your homeworld.”

“It’s complicated.”

“Sisko can’t go by himself, I take it?”

“No, he needs me there as the main delegate for a series of negotiations. It’s all very hush-hush.” She leaned forward conspiratorially across the table, brushing Kira’s hand in the process. “I probably shouldn’t be talking about this in the first place,” whispered Dax with an impish grin.

“I happen to have a higher security clearance than you,” Kira reminded her, patting her hand affectionately. “I’m afraid all you’ve done now is make me curious.”

Dax’s ensuing glare bore little ire. Too little.

“You never know,” encouraged Kira as an idea began unfurling itself in her mind. “It could turn out not to be as bad as you expected.”

“Somehow, I doubt it…but thank you.”

Dax’s transport to Trill proved uneventful. Upon disembarking from the craft, she encountered a smartly-dressed porter waiting by the transporter pads.

“Ms Jadzia Dax?” he called out.

“That’s me. Can I help you?”

“I’m here to take you to the Hoobishan Baths, courtesy of a Major Kira Nerys. She was quite emphatic in her communication that you take every advantage of our facility, including the suite she reserved for you.”

Awestruck with surprise and gratitude, Dax stepped onto the transporter pad and dematerialized, all the while thinking of ways she could repay Kira for her act of kindness.

* * *

 

**Holdall**

Certain precepts went without saying in the resistance. Trust was as hard to come by as bread, and just as valuable. Anything could be a weapon if you tried hard enough. It did not matter what you created, as long as you kept creating: there were already enough destroyers about. If you could not double-time carrying everything you owned and held dear, it was better to leave it behind.

Nerys often hearkens back to those pithy slivers of conventional wisdom here, in Jadzia’s quarters. To her spartan sensibilities, they are positively opulent: soft embroidered throws drape languidly over every available surface, and each knick-knack has its proper place on the mantelpiece. Judging from her decorating tastes, Jadzia would not have done well in the resistance: this had to be at least ten hold-alls worth of curios from previous lives, receptacles of nostalgia from various hosts.

Nerys hopes to all the Prophets that Jadzia will never have to leave any of this behind.


	3. I J K L M N

**Insecurity**

“Is everything okay between you and Nerys?” Keiko asked, one night over a pint at Quark’s.

Jadzia raised an eyebrow. “Why do you ask?”

Keiko looked over at the door, at Nerys’ retreating back. “She would seem to be avoiding you.”

“It’s probably because of what happened on Bajor,” Jadzia admitted, tapping her fingers on the side of her glass nervously. “We…” she averted her gaze.

“What happened?” Keiko asked. “Is this about the night you got drunk?”

*

“I’ve finished my report on the incident with the Lissepian freighter,” Jadzia said. “I was just on my way to deliver it to Benjamin.”

“I’m glad that’s out of the way, it was giving me a headache. Thank you, Dax,” Nerys responded. She looked as though she might say something else, but instead picked up her pace. _Dax?_ Jadzia wondered; Nerys hadn’t called her that for months.

“Nerys!” she called after her friend, but it didn’t slow her down. She didn’t look back. Jadzia had to run to catch up to her before the turbolift doors separated them.

“What’s going on, Nerys?” Jadzia asked. “Why are you acting like we aren’t friends?” _I thought we were on the verge of something more._

“I just think… in light of recent events, it’s better that we’re not. We’re colleagues.”

“ _Recent events?_ So we got drunk and kissed? So what!”

Nerys gave a chagrined look before commanding the turbolift to halt and turning on Jadzia. “So what?” she hissed, "that’s exactly my point! You don’t take relationships seriously, and I can’t not – we’re too different.”

“Is that what this is about? You think my feelings for you aren’t real? I’ll have you know I take relationships I care about _very_ seriously, I’m sorry if it offends you that I have a lot of one night stands when I’m not in one!”

“It doesn’t offend me…” Nerys had gone quiet. “Your sex life is your business, but I thought…”

“You thought what?”

They stood in a silence that stretched out uncomfortably, until Nerys finally broke it. “I was worried that that was all I was to you.”

“Why didn’t you just ask me? You’re usually so direct.” Jadzia said, softer this time, closing her eyes to hold back tears.

“This is a difficult subject for me to talk about. I don’t have much experience in the matter, only a lot of insecurity.”

“I give you my word, Nerys, I care deeply about you, and I don’t want this to just be a one-time thing, if you’re interested.”

“I am,” Nerys said. “I care for you too, Jadzia.” _Jadzia._ They linked hands. “Resume turbolift.”

* * *

 

**Jeopardise**

“You’re chirpy today,” Nerys noted, when Jadzia sauntered into the replimat to meet her for breakfast, humming a song under her breath. “Something must have happened last night after I left you in Quark’s.”

“You’re quite correct,” Jadzia grinned. “Boday got back from his mission a few days early, and decided to lay over at ds9,”

“And?” Nerys questioned.

“And, we finally slept together,” Jadzia winked, and Nerys shuddered.

“I still think it’s weird, but I’m happy that you’re happy.”

Jadzia’s expression darkened at that.

“What’s wrong?”

“He’s been given a mission that will involve him living in the Ghessavai system for a year. He wants me to go with him.”

“That’s three hundred light years away!” Nerys was shocked. “Are you going to go?”

“I don’t know,” Jadzia sighed and pushed her food around on the plate. “I don’t want to jeopardise my friendships with you and everyone here, but I don’t want to lose him either.”

“Tricky one. What about your job?”

“I’ll be part of the mission. His team is working in conjunction with Starfleet and they're looking for a chief science officer. It’ll be a great opportunity.”

“Sounds like you want to go.” Nerys tried not to let her disappointment show.

“I really do. But I also really want to stay. I have a week to decide.”

“You know I hope you’ll stay,” Nerys laid a hand on Jadzia’s, “but I’ll support you in whatever decision you make, and you’ll still be welcome in my life when you get back.

“If I go. It’s a lot to think about… but thank you.”

* * *

 

**Keyring**

"What's this?" Nerys asked, picking up a transparent panel she'd noticed had been lying on Jadzia's bedside table. it was small, rectangular, and no more than a few centimetres in either width or length, at one end a triangular panel with a circular hole in it. "I didn't see it last night."

"well, you were a little distracted then, weren't you?" Jadzia said, rolling over so she could lean over Nerys and kissed her gently. "this," she said when they parted, taking the object from her girlfriend "is called a keyring."

"what's it for?" Nerys asked

"keeping keys on - from earth back before they developed electronic locking mechanisms. they used to keep their keys on a metal ring to keep them all together, and they would also attach decorative objects - small toys, ornaments, logos printed on polymers, and miniature photo frames were typical. à la:" she held up the panel. "Chief O'Brien gave it to me."

"what are you going to do with it?" Nerys asked

"look in the drawer," Jadzia told her, and she did; it was empty all except for a piece of string and two small, flat  rectangles. She picked up the rectangles and turned them over: they were both pictures of the two of them. In the first, they were sitting at a table in Quark's laughing about something. in the other, no background could be discerned, they were holding onto each other tightly, their eyes closed.

“Pictures of us,” Nerys was touched. “But you don’t have any keys?”

Jadzia shrugged. “I’ll think of something.”

* * *

**Loyalty**

Nerys cannot bring herself to take it off, not even in the sonics.

Allowing the frequencies to wash unhurriedly over her and undo a few nascent knots in her neck, she holds it up to the light. The links shimmer with ambient hues, taking cues from their immediate surroundings. The engraving, though subtle and worn, hints at an inherent significance far beyond its humble appearance. It is her only palpable recollection of the one man who has ever treated her like family, at least within living memory.

Her Kardasi has become a little rusty, and she is glad for it. That does not stop her from scrutinizing the nigh-illegible script beyond the usual time it takes to complete her ablutions.

The door slides subtly open as Jadzia eases into the shower. Wordlessly, with equal parts fondness and concern, she meets Nerys’s eyes, entwining their fingers like climbing vines. She spots the bracelet and regards it with interest.

“This was from Tekeny Ghemor,” Jadzia breathes, half question and half statement of fact.

“It was.”

Jadzia’s eyes sparkle in a way that Nerys can barely handle under the most banal of circumstances, never mind occasions such as this one. “Never thought I’d see you wearing Cardassian jewelry,” she muses.

Nerys’s aspect turns bittersweet. “Me too.”

Sobering, Jadzia lowers her gaze and proffers a gentle kiss to the inside of Nerys’s wrist. “Ghemor must be a truly remarkable individual.”

“Yes. He is indeed.”

* * *

 

**Mislead**

“Well, if you _must_ know…I’m waiting for Major Kira.”

This information did not seem to faze Quark one bit.

“You still didn’t answer my question,” he reminded Dax, sliding himself unctuously into the chair next to hers. “Are you being stood up?”

“She _is_ running about half an hour late,” Dax admitted forlornly.

Sensing an opportunity like no other, Quark waggled his brow-ridge and flashed Dax a winning, toothy smile. “Wanna make her jealous?” he offered.

Dax paused, considering her options. “Hmm. As long as a little canoodling’s _all_ we’d be doing to make her jealous, I guess it couldn’t hurt.”

“My intentions are purer than liquid latinum and just as warm,” Quark assured her, scooting in closer and throwing a brocaded arm around her shoulders.

 _“Right,”_ she acknowledged, not without a certain skepticism. She patted his hand curtly.

“Hello, Quark,” intoned a voice from behind them.

“Major,” lilted Quark in his best ingratiating tone, spinning around to face an unimpressed Kira. Dax mirrored Quark, though she expressed genuine delight at Kira’s approach.

“Nerys! What kept you?”

“I was in a meeting with Commander Sisko. What’s going on here?”

“Nothing,” replied Jadzia with all the false innocence she could muster.

“Everything,” countered Quark with a smarmy grin.

Kira was having none of it. “You’re not fooling anyone, you two,” she assured them. “I’ve seen more chemistry between Klingons and tribbles. Sorry, Jadzia – I’ll try to be more timely in the future.”

“That’s all I ask of you, m’dear.”

While the two women exchanged fond glances, Quark thought better of remaining and departed.

“All right! I get the picture! Sheesh. Like being the ninth thruster on a runabout…”

* * *

 

**Nomad**

“What is it with you and Starfleet history, Jadzia? Weren’t all those Academy lectures enough for your current lifetime?” inquired Nerys, as rhetorically as she could with a mouth full of toothpaste.

“Hey, I happen to find it fascinating. Last I checked, that’s allowed.”

Kira finished brushing her teeth and padded over to the bed. Dax lay propped on her elbows, heels crossed, immersed in a commemorative paperbound volume of Starfleet history.

“How poetic is this? Before the well-publicized incident with V’Ger, Spock and Kirk had already had experience dealing with a similar consciousness. An Earth probe named Nomad, launched back in 2002, had begun misinterpreting its directive due to damaged sustained in deep space. When it encountered the _Enterprise_ , it sought to purge all organic life-forms on board, seeing them as ‘imperfections’.”

“Sounds like it was doing a little unsanctioned dabbling in theology,” Kira quipped.

“Very funny, Nerys. Apparently Kirk was able to talk it down enough for it to destroy itself, since it had mistaken him for its creator – making it imperfect in its own right.”

The bed dipped as Kira situated herself between satin sheets.

“Well, one thing’s for sure,” she declared, folding her pillow into a hasperat roll and shifting onto her side.

Dax met her gaze questioningly. “What’s that?”

“If that thing comes back in any form –“

“Highly unlikely.”

“- if it comes back, there’s one person I know of who won’t have a thing to worry about.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello lovely readers! we hope you're enjoying this so far :D  
> just a quick note to let you know that chapters 4 & 5 may be a little longer in the making as we've both got a lot on our plates right now and while we hope we'll both get the chance to write, we can't guarantee it.


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